The generous retirement package waiting for Hamilton School District Superintendent Neil Bencivengo as he leaves the district at the end of the month may be sweetened with a payment of nearly $117,000 for unused vacation days and sick leave.

Those sums would be in addition to his retirement pay. Based on the state’s pension calculator, Mr. Bencivengo’s current salary and his years of total time in the Hamilton School District, he could receive an estimated $145,109 in retirement pay each year, or $12,092 per month.

Mr. Bencivengo has worked for more than 40 years in the Hamilton School District, the last 15 of them in the top job. In the school year now winding down, he is earning $188,918. He is calling it quits six months before his contact expires, joining a statewide exodus of superintendents retiring as new rules on salaries go into effect. Lawrence Superintendent Philip Meara, who earns $187,460 in base salary, also intends to step down two years before his contract is up.

The new limits say most superintendents cannot have a base pay of more than the $175,000 that the governor makes, though those in the biggest districts may exceed that amount. Superintendents’ pay will now be capped according to the size of the district.

Of course, they are entitled to the salary and benefits they negotiated in their contracts. However, the added sweetener of payments for unused vacation days and sick leave leaves a sour taste.

Since 2007, the state has outlawed such largesse with the mandate that a school district employee has two years to use vacation time or lose it. Employees who had built up time before the law went into effect were allowed to keep it. Or, in far too many cases, they collect a cash payment on their way out the door.

As far as unused sick time, it makes no sense that taxpayers ought to pay someone who has already had the good fortune and good health not to have had to use those days.